Travel notes in the past were often based on region. When I wrote them down, I felt that the logic was sufficient but the story was a bit lacking. Moreover, due to space limitations, the text cannot cover all the experiences of the path, and I always feel that there are some omissions and regrets.

While reading on the weekend, I caught a glimpse of "Notes on Drinking and Meal" written by Lin Wenyue on the shelf, which is dedicated to recording insights on food. I am also afraid that some memories on the tip of my tongue will fade away with the passage of time, but the past events related to every delicious food are also worth cherishing.

So I decided to create another chapter to describe the Taiwan I felt with the tip of my tongue during the journey, so as to remember it for the future.

Because the memories are fragmented and not connected to each other, I record the memories related to taste buds separately.

Taiwan’s night markets are famous far and wide. When the lanterns first come on, the whole street becomes lively. The night market combines street food with entertainment and games. It is quite similar to the "tiled roofs and hooks" described in history textbooks, and is very popular among tourists.

Like the famous snack streets in some inland cities, at Taiwan night markets, guests do not need to sit at one table to chew slowly. Instead, they can taste while looking for the next delicacy. This kind of fun of searching This is the biggest charm of the night market.

In addition to enjoying the delicious food, you can also watch the entertainment stalls crowded with tourists. You can feel relaxed and unfettered physically and mentally. When you return after having fun, you will have no regrets when you look back at the brightly lit place.

I travel alone, my schedule is tight, and I shouldn’t come home late, so I have to give up on the famous night markets across Taiwan. Instead, I visited some small-scale night markets, which naturally gave me a unique and fresh experience.

When I was in Kaohsiung, the youth hostel I stayed in was located next to Kaohsiung Station. There was a constant flow of cars and horses in front of the door, which was very lively.

Taiwan is already quite hot in April. If I don’t have any special travel plans, I like to avoid the scorching afternoon sun, take a bath and rest in the hotel, and wait until the sun recedes around four or five o’clock before going out for a stroll.

There is a bookstore opposite the hotel, which is commonly known as a bookstore. When it was cooler in the evening, I went downstairs and walked across the street to the bookstore.

I have to lament that the price of books in Taiwan is so high. I walked back and forth, choosing from left to right, and only selected two books. I paid for them, packed them, and left them at the front desk to pick them up when I returned to the hotel.

Walking along the roadside from the bookstore, there is an alley not far away. I don’t know where the alley leads, maybe it is Liuhe Night Market. Looking from a distance, the lights on the other side are bright, but the door in front of me is deserted and dimly lit.

There is a rock-yaki shop at the entrance of the alley. The Japanese-style shop sign and lanterns look particularly warm and tender in the secluded alley.

I haven’t decided on dinner yet, so why not give this restaurant a try.

I walked to the door but no one greeted me. I turned around and was about to leave when I saw the boss getting up from a corner of the store. He put out his cigarette in embarrassment and hurriedly invited me into the store. I was the only customer in the store at that time, so I could ask about the prices of the dishes in detail, without worrying about the store being busy with business.

I ordered a few vegetables and meat, and then entered the store. Although the store is small, the tatami-style seats are all very spacious. The warm yellow wooden floor is very neat and clean despite all the "human fireworks". It is not like the greasy table tops and cramped space of the barbecue restaurants I usually visit.

There are three food tables on the left and right sides, and the table in the corner has food and wine on it. It is probably the boss's seat.

I chose to sit on a small table in the middle, spread out the futon and sat on the floor. Looking up from outside the store, you can see all the people passing by on the street. The smoke from the barbecue drifted before my eyes, and I could smell the aroma of meat while sitting indoors without feeling smoky or burning.

Suddenly, I remembered Jay Chou's "Nunchaku", "The smell of smoke fills the rockyaki shop, and the martial arts hall next door", the feeling is really warm and familiar.

I filled the cup with tea and watched the boss "fanning the flames" in front of the stove. This boss is so young, he seems to be only a year or two older than me. It must be very hard to manage a small shop by himself and make a living by himself!

However, he looks young and handsome, and there is always a bit of cynicism between his eyebrows, just like he was chewing a cigarette and looking lazy.

After a while, the boy from the shop next door came to talk to him. I am not familiar with Taiwanese and I don’t know the content of their conversation. I only saw them chatting and picking around in the cupboard.

Seeing my confusion, the boss smiled and said in Mandarin: "I'm hungry too. Let's bake some vegetables." The two of them are like children who steal their own candy, relying on their wealth and self-sufficiency.

I feel funny in my heart, this is not a loss-making business.

In an instant, the roasted vegetables and meat were brought to the table. He entertains customers with all his heart. The food is plated casually and beautifully. The vegetables and meat are placed on the bright black plate without any greasiness, and the color is even more mouth-watering.

He picked up the condiments and tossed them around, as if he had all the ingredients at his fingertips. After finishing the action, he asked me to take my time. Then I stood up and looked nonchalant again. I went to the oven to pack up the food I just picked. I brought it back to my food table and sat down alone to consider it for myself.

He probably felt that it was too rude to be "not doing his job properly" in front of the guests, so he came over and invited me to try the wine in his shop. I know that I can't handle alcohol, and beer is difficult to deal with, let alone Japanese sake, which is relatively strong.

He didn't care and continued to indulge in his cups and dishes.

I was able to taste the food in front of me with peace of mind. The grilled meat was cut squarely, which shows the store owner's care.

Just like Confucius, he was very particular about eating meat if it was not cut properly. I pretended to be a sage for the time being and picked up a piece of barbecue and ate it.

The meat is alternately fat and lean, crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. It is grilled over such a high fire and the doneness is just right, locking in the pure and rich aroma of the meat.

This is a non-vegetarian dish, but it is refreshing and delicious, fat but not greasy. This little boss must be a master chef hidden in the city.

If you are serious and excited, you should not be afraid of the depth of the alley with the smell of meat. At this time, it is right to be in a crowded place.

While chewing slowly, I also appreciated the craftsmanship of the store one by one. If I buy a carton of barbecue in the night market, how can I taste it with peace of mind in the bustling place? Thinking about this is not only the speed of speaking, but also many things. A burst of joy.

After finishing everything on the plate, he stood up, thanked him, and praised his excellent craftsmanship. The boss got up and walked it out the door. He was very happy, probably because there were few guests coming and there were more vegetables and meat in the cupboard.

I asked him to stay and go to the bookstore to pick up books. When I walked to the alley, I looked back. He leaned against the door and lit up his cigarette again, blowing out the smoke slowly. He looked at no one and nothing else, just looking at a certain place in trance.

I probably feel a lot of pain in my heart.

One day, I was walking with Tingyi. I forgot whether we were visiting the Forbidden City or the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. I only remembered that it was a rainy day and we wandered around for a day and didn’t return until late in the evening.

In the pouring rain at night, I was walking along a busy street near National Taiwan University and National Taiwan Normal University, which seemed like a small night market.

The two of them were hungry and had no intention of crowding in the crowd to find food on a rainy day. Tingyi suggested eating ice-fire pineapple oil. I had never heard of it before and didn’t know what it was, so I asked Tingyi to take me to try it out.

Tingyi was familiar with the road and took me to a stop in front of a very exquisite shop. She asked for two portions of ice and fire pineapple oil from the counter window, then she closed her umbrella and waited patiently under the eaves.

Ice and Fire Pineapple Oil, as the name suggests, is actually an ordinary pineapple bun with butter filled inside. The pineapple bun is shaped like a pineapple. The thin and crispy pineapple skin on the bun is spread with white sugar and brushed with a layer of egg wash. The color is bright after baking. When heated and then cooled, the skin will naturally crack and form lines. Like pineapple.

The reason why people will never forget Ice Fire Pineapple Oil is that it is hot on the outside and cold on the inside. Although it is called "ice and fire", it tastes warm but not hot, cold but not greasy. People who love desserts will not miss it.

Later I learned that the thick-cut cold butter in the bread slowly melted due to the temperature of the bread, and gradually offset the high temperature when the pineapple buns were baked, without losing the original flavor and blending with each other. Achieve a mysterious balance and excellent taste.

The scene of standing under the eaves, waiting for this bread, now that I think about it, is quite similar to the middle school textbook "The Man in Our Family" written by Wang Anyi. A child with an active nature has a certain attitude towards food. Naturally stubborn.

"He is interested in all tastes. He can wait patiently for three-quarters of an hour for a small order of steamed buns." It seems that food and sex are no different for men, women, old and young.

Take out the freshly baked ice-fired pineapple oil from the window, hold it warm and comfortable in your hands, and take a bite. The outer skin is sweet and crisp, with a slight residual heat from the oven.

The bread is fluffy and soft, and the slightly cool butter seeps into the mouth, flowing slowly from the tip of the tongue, alternating between hot and cold, teasing the taste buds on both sides of the tongue, and the sweet taste flows instantly between the lips and teeth.

Tingyi and I were walking on the road that day, and we seemed to have continued talking for a long time. We didn’t say goodbye until we were downstairs in the apartment. The specific content has been blurred. I only remember that I was full of praise for pineapple oil at that time, even after we said goodbye. In those days, I still can’t forget the various foods I tasted in Taiwan at that time.

If there is anything that makes people nostalgic about Taiwan, then apart from the scenery of the treasure island, it must be the nostalgia that "the tongue tastes the world, and the stomach knows the nostalgia".

Whether it is a restaurant with noble decoration or a stall at a night market, the pursuit of hygiene, health and the meticulous preparation of food are all worthy of my nostalgia and aftertaste.

Later, when I returned to Beijing, there was a Hong Kong-style bakery in front of my workplace. I saw pineapple oil displayed in a glass case, so I bought one.

However, this one is different from the Taiwanese method. A piece of cold butter is directly sliced ??into a thick slice and sandwiched into the pineapple bun. Moreover, the bread is also a finished product rather than freshly baked and sold. It no longer tastes as chewy as that time. The pleasant lingering fragrance.

Although the pleasure on the tongue is no longer the same as before, walking by the window every day and seeing the neatly arranged pineapple oil still makes people think about the days and nights they spent in Taipei.

The Ice and Fire Pineapple Oil has left me with endless aftertaste, but there is another drink that I will never see again after returning to the mainland.

It’s the Ice Room Tea Collection.

Yinbingshichaji is a collective name for a tea brand that often appears on the freezers of major convenience stores. It has three flavors: black tea, scented tea, and green tea. My favorite The only one is green tea.

I stayed in Taipei for a few days and had no specific travel plans. I just waited for Tingyi to take me to wander around Taipei when she had free time. Tingyi was right around the time of the midterm exams at National Taiwan University and did not dare to delay.

And I also yearn for National Taiwan University very much, so I would rather hang out in the bookstores on Coconut Grove Avenue, Xinsheng South Road and the exhibition halls of the campus.

Compared with tourists traveling to and from Taiwan, I feel proud that I have an extra level of travel experience.

It is rare to get away from the complicated matters such as graduation and go to Taiwan. How can you not enjoy this great time? Waking up every morning in Taipei is a change from the strict schedule I had when I was studying in school, and I am always lazy.

Open the curtains, brew a cup of coffee, listen to the Taiwanese-accented Mandarin on the radio, and listen to the noise of the locomotive engine outside the window. Look at the city leisurely, slowly waking up, slowly flowing, slowly Slow and lively.

Around eight or nine o'clock, I finished washing up and went to the 711 convenience store downstairs to buy some breakfast. Breakfast is always simple, usually staple food such as oden or bread, and sometimes a small box of fruit, but a box of Yinbingshu tea is definitely indispensable.

After breakfast, take a newspaper of the day, sit down and drink tea while reading carefully. The newspaper must be kept clean and flat when reading. After reading, fold it and put it back on the shelf, so that the store can sell it again. , so be extra careful not to contaminate it with oil and tea stains.

I have always been accustomed to reading newspapers when traveling. I try to find local newspapers wherever I go. I believe that no matter how much I try to whitewash peace, I can probably estimate the consistency between what I see and what I read. A city’s attitude.

Taiwan’s speech is open and diverse, so sometimes I spend a large part of the morning reading publications from different media in order to understand a new current event more comprehensively or from more angles.

Similarly, from these mutually refuting words, we can probably get a glimpse of a hidden uneasiness and restlessness behind the facts.

When I feel tired, I take out my book and read. Taiwan is very quiet. People tend to whisper in public places, which does not disturb people reading or reading newspapers at all. It is like a miniature reading room. Like many Taiwanese students, I studied in this convenience store.

The store clerks also take good care of us students. They always walk softly and slowly when coming and going, and speak nice Mandarin to meet the various needs of customers.

A city that respects reading and learning is lovely and respectable.

I think that students who have spent time in these supermarkets, coffee shops, and bookstores will deeply recall their youthful, frivolous and happy days here many years later.

Later, I started from Taipei and traveled around the island. No matter where I went, I would buy two boxes of tea at the convenience store near my residence at night.

After bathing and changing clothes in the summer evening, I sit at the table and blow the air-conditioning, reading or resting, and occasionally sipping a sip of herbal tea. My body and mind are soaked in this cup of tea. In one corner, it sinks, shakes, and settles.

Every time I drink tea slowly, I will think of the leisurely and happy days in Taipei, where I wasted my time, detached from the rush of the city, and acted recklessly in the leisurely life of "not knowing the safety of heaven and earth."

After returning to the mainland, I never forgot the refreshing aroma of tea at that time, so I frequently visited the imported shelves of supermarkets, but I never saw the familiar Yubingshi Tea Collection.

There are alternatives to ice fire pineapple oil to satisfy your cravings, but there is no way to savor the ice room tea set.

If one day, the tip of the tongue suddenly senses the familiar taste of tea that has been missing for a long time, I think that taste should be called Taiwan.

Taiwan is located at the junction of tropical and subtropical areas, with fertile soil, abundant rainfall, and abundant, juicy fruits and vegetables. The geographical transportation is also very convenient, and there is no shortage of imported fruits from the Philippines, Vietnam and other countries.

You can buy very fresh fresh-cut fruits every day at convenience stores or night markets. Even if you miss a meal during the trip, there are all kinds of fruits to satisfy your hunger.

I often buy a box of 711 fruit boxes in the morning and taste the earliest fruits on the market that day.

Before people wake up, their tongues have traveled all over the left coast of the Pacific Ocean.

My favorite food is Lianyungang. This fruit is rarely seen in the north of mainland China. Even if it appears on supermarket shelves, it is either expensive or in poor quality.

Taiwan’s lotus root has been improved several times by fruit growers, resulting in a wide variety of varieties and better fruit flavor. The fruits of Lianwu are cone-shaped, mostly dark red, and some varieties of Lianwu are green-green. The skin has a waxy sheen and the flesh is crisp, but has a slightly spongy texture near the core.

When I was in Kenting, I ate a kind of lotus mist called "Black Pearl". It is probably a unique local variety. It is dark red in color and not big in size, but it is sweeter than the lotus mist I have eaten before. The fog is higher, and sometimes it looks like huge black pearls arranged in the pergola from a distance.

Pingtung County is rich in lotus mist, which is delicious and cheap. It just satisfies my appetite without breaking the bank of a poor student. Now that I think about it, it really tastes like happiness.

Most hostels and guesthouses in Taiwan are equipped with small refrigerators. I often buy a small bag of lotus mist on the roadside or at the night market, wash it and put it in a corner of the refrigerator, and take it out in the morning or afternoon the next day. Eat one or two and let the refreshing fragrance penetrate your heart and spleen.

The days of simple happiness and worry-free eating are what I miss from time to time now that I live independently and manage daily necessities.

Most of the inconveniences for solo travelers are related to food. My spleen and stomach can't bear the bulk of the article, and I can't taste every bit of it when I go to a restaurant.

The same is true for fruits. Watermelons, pineapples and the like must be cut and boxed, and the price is much higher. Lianwu is smaller and lighter.

Even if you travel to another place the next day, you can put it in your bag and enjoy it on the go.

Probably because lotus mist is light and brittle and difficult to store and transport, it is so rare in the north of the mainland, and many northerners don't know about it. There are also some fruit shops that pass off bad ones as good ones. The lotus seeds they buy back are expensive and not very fresh. The pulp is completely spongy, the water content and fragrance are not as good as those in Taiwan, and they taste tasteless.

If you want to take another bite of the sweet lotus mist with juice to soothe your tongue, you may have to go to Taiwan again?

After the trip around the island, return to Taipei.

On the way, I visited some night markets and alleys. Most of the cooking utensils on the stalls were iron plates, so a small hot iron plate can be used to make a variety of foods. .

There is a kind of iron plate food called "Okonomiyaki", which is a Japanese fried food. I remember buying food from different stalls on Kenting Street that day and taking it back to the B&B, so I don’t remember how the stall owner’s aunt cooked this kind of Okonomiyaki on the iron plate.

After I took a shower and sat in front of the tatami to taste the night market delicacies, I realized that Okonomiyaki was very to my liking, so I regretted not paying attention to the stall owner’s cooking methods.

It’s impossible to comment on the taste and texture of these Teppanyaki grills one by one, but my favorite is the grilled meat from Teppanyaki grills.

I remember that at the night market, the stall owner would put moderate portions of meat on the iron plate or grill and slowly fry and heat it. When tourists buy it, they smoke it directly with the flame of the flamethrower, and they can smell the aroma of barbecue in a few seconds.

After returning from a trip to Taiwan, I recalled all the things I did when I was alone in the past. I have many treasures, but I am not very clear about various matters in Taipei. Because I was lazy and lazy when I was in Taipei, I wandered around Xinsheng South Road all day long. When I went out, I relied on Tingyi to guide me, so I was just lazy.

I have dreamed of returning to Taipei countless times, and I could only vaguely see the scene outside the bright and spacious window of the Prince's Academy.

While I was traveling around, Tingyi had already contacted Yixuan, another NTU friend I met in Moscow.

The fate that was forged in a foreign country back then is now reunited in Taipei. While feeling surprised and sighing, I can’t help but think back to the summer in Moscow three years ago.

Tingyi is a student in the Department of Foreign Languages ??and Literature at National Taiwan University, while Yixuan is studying in the Department of Chemistry at National Taiwan University. They both took Russian courses, but they did not know each other well at National Taiwan University. It was in Moscow that they "met old friends in a foreign land" , so it is particularly friendly.

On the evening of our return to Taipei, Tingyi, Yixuan and I went to a Teppanyaki restaurant we had booked in advance to chat and drink.

I really miss the student days when we had both wine and meat. Everyone was young and free-spirited, and there were no taboos. For us, the only things we could do were study, take exams, and have dinner parties, and interact with each other. Simple and beautiful, without worries or fears.

They had been apart for a long time, and the three of them had endless things to talk about. They talked while eating, from the first time they met in Moscow to the time they broke up. I can’t remember the specific situation at that time, and the things around me are also very blurry. Even the smell of the Teppanyaki, which I praised as delicious, has faded away because of the passage of time.

I only remember that the lights were warm that day, the silhouettes of the three of them were superimposed on the night view of the city outside the glass window, cups and plates were intertwined, they were drinking and eating, talking about everything.

This kind of fun of talking in bed all night can only be enjoyed with someone very close to you.

There was an episode during the meal. We were cooking meat on the iron plate when an earthquake suddenly hit us. We thought it was the aftershock of the earthquake that morning, and it felt as if the vibration was even greater than the aftershock in the morning.

I was about to go out to take shelter, but I saw the wind and rain outside the window, so I had to give up and continue to sit down and enjoy the barbecue. At that time, I was really calm and calm in the face of danger.

Now that I think about it, the three of us "old gourmets" probably couldn't bear to part with these barbecues in front of us, so we stayed out of it and seemed unusually calm.

It has been a long time ago, and the memories related to that cheerful and chaotic night have become increasingly distant and faded, but the meaning of meeting close friends again and understanding each other's feelings is profound and lasting.